Our dear friend Jay has returned from his world tour, and to celebrate he’s having a little party tonight at The Corner Shop in Shoreditch. It’s called Common Knowledge, and Vaults are taking to the decks alongside ZNTN, Ste V Something (of We Are Your Friends) and Jac the Disco.
It’s free, so come down after work and have a little dance with us.
Our friend Jay from Jac The Disco has been around the world and back in the last year or so, we’re constrantly green with envy at the latest scuba diving shot or amazing Eastern sunset, and it seems he’s been keeping a hand firmly on the decks in that time, while partner-in-crime Pac represents in London at his Legendary Children night, as well as appearances at Disco Bloodbath at XOYO.
They’re soon to be reunited, so we thought we’d pass on this little piece of paradise from the island of Koh Tao.
Tracklist
01 Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Diskjokke Remix)
02 Midnight Line – Drop Me A Line (Mano Le Tough Remix)
03 Maceo Plex – Aint That Love
04 Benoit & Sergio – Principles
05 Max Essa – How Do You Feel (Kim Ann Foxman Remix)
06 Stubbs – Good Morning, Good Day
07 Spank Rock – Energy (Glimmers Remix)
08 Soha – Les Enfants Du Bled
09 Clock Opera – Once And For All – (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
10 Cock N Bull Kid – Asthma Attack (Stopmakingme Remix)
11 Booby – Moobeech
12 Mitzi – India (Joakim Remix)
13 Hercules & Love Affair – Painted Eyes (Wolfram Remix)
14 Connan Mockasin – Faking Jazz Together (Michael Mayer Remix)
Since our good friend Jay Rossi of Jac The Disco went on his travels we’ve been chatting to his partner-in-crime Prince Pac about his solo projects for Legendary Children and Big In Japan. Legendary Children began as a blog and a series of club nights ‘all about classic House Music’ in Stoke Newington a whole year ago, and since then they’ve branched out all over East London and sent Pac DJing around the capital. They’re about to celebrate their first birthday with a huge secret venue warehouse party Saturday 5 March (event details here), so Pac did a little mix to celebrate. Full of smooth disco and acid house, very nice.
Prince Pac – Legendary Children Hot Mix Volume 4
Pac’s also playing this friday alongside Ray Mang for Big In Japan at the Book Club. We’ve been keeping a close eye on Big In Japan since they hosted Fabric‘s room 3 for Kill Em All last month, and this mix sums up the disco vibes we can expect this weekend. Enjoy.
The Life and Times of the Nefarious Prince (Mix for Big In Japan)
Kill Em All at Fabric blew our minds again this weekend, and the excitement levels felt like they were about to spill over as we ran from room to room, desperate not to miss anything. In between the mighty Erol Alkan and Jac The Disco we caught a little of Hey Today!
What I love about Fabric is that the industrial, subterranean surroundings are so wonderfully conducive to the electro-indie-rock hybrid that is my very favourite sub-sub-genre. Hey Today! played a hard set but one that suited room 2 perfectly, and had the crowd absolutely unable to contain themselves.
So get yourself to the nearest underground exposed-brick-and-metal space you can (anyone got a bomb shelter in their back garden? That’ll do), and have a listen for yourselves.
Tracklist
1. Hey Today! – Talk To Me
2. Hey Today!- Strange
3. Hey Today!- Minor
4. Hey Today!- Toasted
5. Zombie Nation – Radio Controlled (Hey Today! Remix)
6. Boys Noize – Nerve (Hey Today! Remix)
7. Hey Today!- Necessary Evil (Edit)
8. Tiga – You Gonna Want Me (Hey Today! Remix)
9. Punks Jump Up – Blockhead (Hey Today! – Reblocked)
10. Scaramanga – (Bookashade Hey Today!)
11. Goose – Words (Boris Dlugosch Remix)
12. Empire Of The Sun – Standing on the Shore (Hey Today! Remix)
13. Hey Today!- Talk To Me (Busy P. Remix)
A huge huge thank you to the Ed Banger crew for giving us a slice of winter wonderland at The Warehouse Project last week. We’ve included two Carte Blanche tracks this week as Mehdi and Riton absolutely blew the roof off, and I’ve very much enjoyed watching their sets come together this year and distill into something completely reactive. We’re heading North again tonight for another monumental Warehouse lineup: Simian Mobile Disco, Holy Ghost!, Aeroplane and Tensnake to name but a few.
Down in London town tonight FACT magazine host Joy Orbison and Ramadanman at XOYO, and tomorrow XOYO is also the venue de jour for Bugged Out and Durr’s Christmas party, with Rory Phillips, Aeroplane, Holy Ghost! and Tanlines. The Dirtybird and Get Physical crews are heading to me ol’ fave Fabric tomorrow, so not only are Claude VonStroke, Justin Martin, Julio Bashmore and Catz n’ Dogz playing in room one, but in room two M.A.N.D.Y are live alongside Heidi. Over at Queen of Hoxton Orlando Boom sees Jac The Disco, Blamma Blamma! Mighty Mouse and Joakim shake it up real nice, the ultra cool Off Modern moves from their usual First Thursdays slot to tomorrow at Corsica Studios, with Dels and Egyptian Hip Hop, and Public House sorts out you easties at Drop East with Dana Ruh. Sunday it’s down the hill to The Lock Tavern for Round Table Knights and Duke Dumont playing our favourite Sunday knees-up, Blogger’s Delight.
More Thursday parties too as this week Night Slugs bring Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 to East Village and Counter Culture host Esper Magazine with Homework and Worthy. Counter Culture closes on 1 January so you really should get yourselves down there before then – it’s got that real house party vibe that we love.
Here are some tracks that will help you flick the bird at winter:
Monkey Safari – Stoned
Etienne De Crécy – No Brain (Munk Remix)
Villa – Beats of Love (The C90s Remix)
Moneypenny – Destroy (Midnight Conspiracy Remix)
Kink & Neville Watson – Metropole
Carte Blanche – Politrix As Usual
Carte Blanche & Kid Sister – Do! Do! Do! (Laidback Luke Remix)
Or all together: Woody 34.zip
Out to buy this week is Black Strobe’s Me & Madonna on Kitsune, complete with remixes from Tape to Tape and The Twelves. Worth an early Christmas present.
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Stopmakingme. He has the rare ability to be able to turn a dancefloor into a screaming mass while still being able to cause goosebumps with his out-of-club mixtapes. His influences are vast and diverse, and it comes through in his mixing and productions. The world agrees with us, and he’s very quickly climbed to the top of his game: as resident of Fabric, running Kill Em All with the Filthy Dukes, and most recently he’s just started as Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label resident DJ, playing their club nights and presenting their radio shows.
Most importantly, his Wrapped in Plastic EP comes out 22 November on Kill Em All records, and you can download two tracks below. We caught up with him to talk origins…
Obviously indie music and the Soulwax, DFA, post-punk stuff has all been a big influence on you, but was it always that way? Was that a parental thing? What phases did you get through to arrive here?
Well, I became obsessed with Michael Jackson and Prince when I was very young. Then I guess The Prodigy were the first band I really loved – I went to see them play in Bournemouth with my dad when I was eleven. As a teenager, metal and rock music (but none of the wanky stuff!) was everything to me and I still love it now, Queens Of The Stone Age and The Smashing Pumpkins remain my favourite bands. I would record Mary Anne Hobbs’ Rock Show every week on my minidisc player and it was from there I discovered her Breezeblock programme. A pivotal moment came when I found an old episode with The Chemical Brothers talking about all their influences and it opened my eyes to the way in which club music is affected by everything. The proceeding few years were unbelievably exciting as I tried to listen to as much stuff as possible from all over the place. So yes, by the time I was 18 I was a full blown indie boy who loved Felix Da Housecat and Death In Vegas as much as The Strokes and New Order.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
I don’t feel guilt about liking anything but I guess some would call Wow by Kylie a guilty pleasure. What a record, though!
What was your golden era for clubbing? I think for me it was 2006 when we were going to Trash on a Monday at The End, it always felt like an adventure…
Living in Bournemouth, we envied Trash and Our Disco so much! (as well as Fabric and Bugged Out). I was just a bit too young. I also would love to have experienced the height of The Paradise Garage, Music Box and The Hacienda. Living now isn’t so bad, though!
When you interviewed Erol Alkan he mentioned curveball tracks, and that’s something in a set that I particularly love – like Busy P dropping the Glee theme tune. Do you have one?
The best ‘curveballs’ are ones that still fit into the overall feel of a night, I love that idea of ‘club music’ which doesn’t come from the usual places. When Doves Cry and Once In A Lifetime always find a way into my sets and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of either.
In the same kind of vein, do you have a golden track or mix that you always return to for your own listening?
Tiga’s DJ Kicks is great, Erol’s One Louder CD from 2003 and the Trash sets on his podcast, Nation Of Shopkeepers by Filthy Dukes, Cut Copy and Ewan Pearson Fabric CDs, In Flagranti’s mix for BlahBlahBlah, Ladytron’s Softcore Jukebox compilation, Justice recorded live at Our Disco, the first DFA boxset… Basically anything that has an eye on more than the standard 4/4 house routine.
My favourite club track is Geht’s Noch by Roman Flugel. I could listen to that loop all day.
One of my favourite things about you is that you and Tim (Filthy Dukes) are so enthusiastic about other people’s records, which is completely infectious on a dancefloor. Who is your ultimate ultimate musical hero?
That’s the best bit about DJing: sharing music you love with other people. Musical heroes? There are too many. Josh Homme, Kevin Shields, Bowie, Beck, Kim Deal, The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk…
Before Kill Em All it was Sixty Million Postcards and we used to buy records from you at Pure Groove, so it’s obvious it’s most definitely in the blood. Was there ever a plan b? If you weren’t working in the music industry what would you be doing?
I have no idea. I studied English and Film at university so I’d probably be an unemployed publisher by now.
This is your first EP but you’ve been remixing and working on tracks for a while I think. How did Wrapped In Plastic come to be? Was it through many incarnations or a studio epiphany?
I feel quite a few things have come together, coupled with the fact that I now have access to some amazing analogue equipment. I also learned to relax! When I first started making dance music I was trying to make noisier club tracks that I thought would sell on Beatport, simply because I didn’t know what I was doing or where to start. It was a good moment when I realized I could (and should) make odder stuff that was influenced by more than one corner of my record collection.
K and Big V?
Two of my best friends (and not a drug reference)
So you’ve got Deadstock 33s on the remix package, a current favourite? Justin Roberson was great playing with you guys at The Lock the other week.
It’s a total honour to have Justin do a remix for me, he’s a legend in our world. His Deadstock stuff made me totally rethink what I wanted to be playing as a DJ. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s nice how there is lots of big club music emerging which doesn’t directly come from the standard dance world. I think the next year will be really exciting.
So I’m always hearing that you’re finishing tracks or in the studio at the moment, is an album coming, or more EPs, remixes etc?
Definitely two more EPs already lined up, some music with Mr.Robertson we’ve been working on together plus loads of remixes. There’s also a brand new project I’ve just started work on which sounds totally different.
I think it was a past interview I read with you that drew my attention to the excellent Jac The Disco, so thanks! Who are your ones to watch for 2011?
Remute, The Deadstock 33s, Punks Jump Up, Ajello, Retro/Grade, Gesaffelstein, the continuing genius of In Flagranti, the return of Chicken Lips, the new Filthy Dukes stuff, Matt Walsh, Rory Phillips, The C90s….
Bands: the new Death In Vegas record, Outer Limits Recordings, Factory Floor, Selebrities, 2:54…
Stopmakingme – Discuss (192kpbs)
Stopmakingme – Hot Pepper Sauce (192kpbs)
Buy the Wrapped In Plastic EP in its full 320 glory from Monday, and catch Stopmakingme playing at Counter Culture this Friday with Justin Robertson and Punks Jump Up.
This weekend is another one of those where we’d like to be in three different cities, and three different clubs at once, but instead we’re settling for a three day party, which will probably spill over into Monday and make pre-Halloween zombies of us all. Worth it? YES.
So it all starts tonight with On the One at Concrete with Night Flight (Jac The Disco) and Capita!, whilst over the road Made to Play are at XOYO to celebrate 5 years of the label, with Jesse Rose, Zombie Disco Squad and Idiotproof. If you’re South, Trouble Vision at Corsica sees DJ Zinc, SBTRKT and MJ Cole take to the decks.
Tomorrow The Book Club pits Mumdance against Hold Still for a soundclash, and later on Stopmakingme joins the mighty Erol Alkan and Matt Walsh for Bugged Out’s birthday at XOYO. We Fear Silence brings Theo Parrish to Cable, and Tim Goldsworthy plays for Lostbahnhof at Life. Koko has yet another epic line-up with Mr. Scruff for Ninja Tune XX.
Then Sunday our local Lock Tavern is hosting Kill Em All, with Boy 8-Bit, Justin Robertson and Filthy Dukes. New Stoke Newington venue The Nest sees the launch of Potty Mouth Disco’s Sunday Sessions with Ali Renault. These Sunday parties are free, so swap your roast dinner for a sweaty rave-up, that’s what we say.
Single for the week is The C90s Shine A Light, out today on Relish, and a fitting follow-up to the fantastic 10:01. Whoop!
A-Trak – Ray Ban Vision (feat. CyHi Da Prynce)
Siriusmo – Wow (Modeselektor Edit)
Doorly – Sausage Party Surely everyone’s favourite kind of party???
Escort – Cocaine Blues
Consistent – Ain’t No Bump
Innerpartysystem – And Together (Midnight Conspiracy Remix)
Aphex Twin – Windowlicker (Renaissance Man Bootcut)
Download: Woody XIX
Bonus: Erol Alkan live ‘Ganban’ DJ mix just released on his website.
Do you ever feel like the weekends are actually reality, and the working week is just like a bad dream in between? Except the weekends have a slightly hazy, dream-like quality to them. Where did this week go?
It’s Friday already, and we’re galavanting off to Shoreditch to see our chums Stopmakingme and Jac The Disco play at East Village tonight alongside Matt Walsh. Yay! Tomorrow there’s a tonne of stuff going on; Slutty Fringe are hosting Filthy Dukes and Silver Columns at 93 Feet East, Village Underground is the venue for the much-anticipated 2020 Soundsystem 2020 Vision party, curly-haired vixen Hannah Holland is playing with Off Modern‘s Nasty McQuaid at Apocalypso at Queen of Hoxton, and Flying Lotus is playing for Brainfeeder at my favourite car park, Hearn Street.
Stopmakingme’s latest mix for Phantasy reminds us of how great he is:
Stopmakingme Mix for Phantasy Sound, August 2010
There were so many great tracks this week I found it hard to filter, but here are my top seven, with the view to keeping it a little varied in terms of tone and subgenre.
Eli Escobar – Love Thing Part 2 (DJ Mehdi Club Edit)
Midnight Magic – Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Remix)
Cassette Jam – Speed of Light (Filthy Dukes Dub)
Goldfrapp – Believer (Little Loud Remix) Little Loud is certainly one to watch – check his remixes of Health and Yeasayer.
Retro Grade – Pulsar
Simian Mobile Disco – Nerve Salad
Chilly Gonzales – I Am Europe (Djedjotronic Remix)
OR all at once: Woody XX
BONUS: Luke Million – Arnold
Luke Million is Luke Godson, better known as the keyboardist from The Swiss. Arnie on a workout tip.
Give The Man some of your money this week for Tape to Tape‘s latest; the stunningly beautiful Pure and Easy EP on Relish Recordings. Including a remix from Black Strobe. Consistently excellent.
Jac The Disco have been instrumental in putting Cornwall firmly on the dance music map, enticing the lovely Riton (and us no doubt) down to the South West to catch them play their characteristically finest quality house and disco tomorrow. One From The Vaults put our roving reporter hats on last weekend and caught up with Jay and Pac in a dark and dirty nightclub corner.
One thing I always love about a new Jac The Disco mix is that I’m guaranteed to see way more unknowns on the tracklist than many others who, however skilfully, can rework a lot of the same pool of new releases. Then I inevitably fall in love with the tracks and have to run out and buy straight away. And half of them are pretty elusive! Where do you find your music – out and about, PR people and friends in high places?
Jay: All the above really, funny handshakes is mainly how we get it…
I see a lot of vinyl-only tracks in your mixes. Are you rare vinyl hunters?
Jay: We’ve been collecting vinyl for while now- I think I bought my first vinyl in 1993. Its great to go digging for those rare gems and keep a look out for those limited edition releases. There’s nothing quite like a nice piece of vinyl. Although I much prefer to carry a few CDs to a gig, less spine destroying.
Pac: I wouldn’t say rare particularly because there are tons of unknowns which are really plentiful and you can pick up for a few quid – I couldn’t really see myself spending £50+ on a rare record. It’s just being in the right place in the right time with second hand record shopping, someone might not realize what they have and let it go.
When playing together do you both have separate favourites you like to include or a particular order, or do you find that you’ll cultivate a mix sequence together right from the start?
Jay: We tend to just take a load of tracks we love and work from there. No real order, I think that way it gives you much more flexibility of where to take the dance floor and respond to the crowd.
I love the disco tracks and Chicago house vocals that you sandwich very nicely in with some darker electro and tribal sounds. What would you say is the biggest musical influence on your style?
Pac: Hard to say because there are so many! I think what it comes down to is just you guys out on the floor in front of us – what we play is dependent on how YOU are reacting to what we’re playing and we have quite a lot of stuff to draw upon. Apart from that anything that we find interesting and has a groove I guess!
Do you find that you use more well-known tracks in your ‘playing out’ sets and are more experimental when recording a mix, or do you test new things on a club audience?
Jay: When people download mixes they want something to listen to on their iPod at home, work etc so it’s a great opportunity to include music that we may not tend to play out. When we do play out we take into consideration where we’re playing. I think London is a lot more open minded musically than other parts of the country but we will always push the boundaries when we can.
So you’re busy bees gigs-wise this month, but a biggie is Jac The Disco and Riton at My Heroes Killed Cowboys down in Cornwall tomorrow. What’s the Cornwall connection and what should entice us out of our London-town bubble?
Jay: Cornwall is such a great place and hugely overlooked musically. It has great beaches, festivals, taxidermy animals and it’s produced the likes of Boy 8 Bit & Tom Middleton. We used to live in the South West which is where Jac The Disco began, so we like to stay true to our roots and keep that connection alive. My Heroes Killed Cowboys is a great party with a very ‘up for it’ crowd. They’ve got some great things lined up this year which you will be able to follow here: www.myheroeskilledcowboys.co.uk
I hear you’re in the studio quite a lot at the moment, can we expect to hear Jac The Disco productions soon? How would you categorise the sounds you’re generating?
Pac: Very Chicago influenced I guess, we usually start with some Chicago house style drums and a simple bassline and then build from there. The finished products usually end up somewhere between Chicago and Deep House and Disco. The stuff we’re producing is gradually getting somewhere near the standard where we’d be happy to kick something out so watch this space!
Who would be your ideal label to release on?
Jay: thats a difficult question, There are alot of great labels we love like Traxx, Golf Channel, DFA, Under the Shade, stillove4music, Astrolab and no doubt many more. Once we have something finalised and happy to send it off to some labels I think we will hope to release on a label which our track compliments and vice versa.
Who do you reckon we should get ourselves down to see as soon as possible – who is your ‘one to watch’ for this year?
Pac: Neville Watson I reckons. His productions and co-productions are bang on the money as far as I’m concerned
Jay: For me its TBD, which consists of Lee Douglas and Justin Vandervolgen. They’ve been making some really great tracks and edits.
And finally, are you two the friendliest men in dance music?! [he he]
Jay: Haha, Well I wouldn’t like to say, but a great party involves socialising, meeting people and having a good time. We’ve had great opportunity through our music to meet lots of people from all walks of life. To promote events and DJ does take an element of people skills.
Pac: My girlfriend wouldn’t say that about me in particular – I can be a grumpy shit! You must have caught me on a good day, or when I was drunk!
Thanks both, and for your listening pleasure download their brand new June Mix:
Jac The Disco – June mix 2010
Jac The Disco Dates
11 June 2010 – Bungalows and Bears, Sheffield
12 June 2010 – My Heroes Killed Cowboys (with Riton) – Isobar, Cornwall.
Warehouses! Oh how we love them, and I must confess, I’ve not been to Bocking Street warehouse in London Fields, the site of tonight’s Dollop party. It’s Chrome Hoof‘s album launch, so they’re playing live, with DJ sets from Simian Mobile Disco and Andrew Weatherall. Consider carefully your choice of evening entertainment this weekend, because there’s a bevvy of beauties to pick from. Modular are having their Summer Sundance at Cable on Saturday, and the lineup is pretty much poetry – Tensnake, The Swiss, Treasure Fingers, Mighty Mouse, and The c90s. The ever-fabulous Jac The Disco are playing at Orlando Boom at the Queen of Hoxton, and Stopmakingme is playing at Be@Proud at Proud Camden. Eeek!
These songs make us happy. Grab them all zipped up here: Woody XII
Acid Washed – General Motors, Detroit, America (Black Strobe Remix)
MGMT – Electric Feel (Aeroplane Remix)
Snowden – Black Eyes (Le Castle Vania Remix)
Mastiksoul feat. Carla Carlim – Baila Bonito
Mighty Mouse – Song for Ellen
The Hundred in the Hands – Ghosts
Kele – Tenderoni (XXXchange Dub) - from Kele Okereke’s new solo album The Boxer, out 21 June. If this is the nice little electro-vibe, we’re excited.