Virgin

You could almost call The Prodigy the OAP’s of electronic music, after all they’ve been there from the beginning and are still producing fresh inspiring music. After bubbling around in the early nineties with albums such as Experience and Music For The Jilted Generation, it wasn’t until the bands third album Fat Of The Land where they smashed the mainstream barrier.

Singles such as Breathe, Fire Starter and Smack My Bitch Up gained the Essex ravers attention from all sorts of people. Music fans loved the industrial sounds and dynamic videos whilst other people read too far in to some lyrics and what the band were all about.

After a long break to let the heat settle down from the success of Fat Of The Land, The Prodigy returned with Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. However, it was the first time where the majority of individuals felt slightly let down by the release. Familiar vocalists Keith and Maxim were missing from the release and the inclusions of guest singers such as Liam Gallagher made the album feel a bit empty and disappointing.

Moving on from this release, the band regrouped and decided to go back to their roots to create an album that sounded like it was right from the early days of rave music. Almost like doing the musical time warp, The Prodigy let a new generation of fans discover the early sounds of the dance scene. Combining hardcore, industrial baselines and soaring vocals, it’s a track that will take people back to the days where parties took place in industrial warehouses instead of today’s chic club setting.

With the single taking us back to the past, the remixes of the single also propel the single in to the future. South Central work their magic on Warriors Dance and add a glitch electro vibe to the track with a dash of breakbeat thrown in for good measure. Four additional mixes accompany this single and will no doubt have you raving in your bedroom and using carrots for glowsticks.

Extraball? What’s this? It sounds like it could be some sort of futuristic term for a space age game involving a sport where competitors fight to the death with a deadly object. Whilst this makes hardly any sense to me at least, there are plenty of other straight forward and exciting things about this release.

Multiple vocalist echo throughout the track that “the time is now”. I’m not entirely sure what it’s time for. Maybe for us all to give up on Twitter on Facebook, look outside and release there’s more to life then a computer screen. Or some global epidemic involving pigs and the flu.

The single Extraball is the lead release from French DJ and producer Yuksek from his forthcoming album Away From The Sea. Although we mock the French for chomping away on frogs and horse, we can’t fault their electronic music output. Lord of the dance Daft Punk and Justice are two duo’s who have made an impression around the world. Yuksek looks set to do the same with this tasty single.

If the single wasn’t enough to make clubbers reach for their glowsticks, there is a host of slamming remix action. The producers may not be household names, but the beats and synths have been tweaked to rival that of any established DJ.

The EP drops in to digital retailers on May 4th. If your old fashioned and like to buy physical CD’s, it will also be in all good record shops.

• For more on Yuksek visit his MySpace page.

The latest offering from this DJ giant is nothing more than pure techno electro genius. The sound of Zombie Nation has long been ringing in the ears of club goers all over the world; who could forget the infamous Kernkraft 400? The new album due for release on March 9th, marks the 10th anniversary of the project, and what better way to celebrate it than in style with Zombielicious?

Latest release, Worth It, definitely proves itself to be a stand out track. There seems to be a resounding sound of maturer alternative dance sound from the Munich based DJ project, which is easily understandable after 10 years in the business.

Other immediate favourites? Radio Controlled will easily prove a massive commercial hit with Mas De Todo alongside Seas of Grease - definite winners for filling club dancefloors across the nation. A perfect finish coming from closing track Bass Kaput allows to appreciate the true greatness of this long surviving techno electro act.

Despite not being as infinitely catchy as Kernkraft 400, the album presents itself to be a true dance electo techno melange, destined to keep even the smallest of club goers grinning from ear to ear.

Treasure Fingers, the name has been synonymous with great dance music in 07/08. From dropping his own gems, Its Your Turn and possibly electro track of the year, well for me anyways, Cross the Dancefloor and not to mention the numerous banging remixes that he continually drops. My personal favorites being Chromeo’s 100%, Empire of The Sun’s Walking On A Dream and even making Fergie’s Glamorous palatable. The man consistently keeps people shaking their asses whether its on the dancefloor or in the privacy of their own home. With that kind of resume we can definitely expect more hotness coming out in 2009 and it’s already started with Treasure Fingers remix of Miike Snows‘ Animal, heard here. In anticipation of him coming to Vancouver on January 23rd to Celebrities (tickets at www.blueprintevents.ca), we caught up with the man known as Treasure Fingers to talk about his remixes, plans for an album and for the gear heads, we touch on what equipment he uses in the lab.

KB: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. So tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in producing and DJing electronic dance music?

Treasure Fingers: I started with hip hop and experimental stuff when I was really young, 14 or so, on my dad’s drum machine and 4track. Around 16, I lost interest and started playing in punk/hardcore bands. I didn’t really get serious with dance music production & DJing until I was 17 or 18 and my band had broken up. I liked that I could fill the creative musical void by writing, producing & DJing solo.

KB: You have an interesting name, Treasure Fingers, and before that you were know as The Enemy, tell us about those names, what was the inspiration behind them?

TF: Some friends of mine and I just kicked around some names and Treasure Fingers seemed to be the most popular. I still wasn’t completely sold on it at first but I really like it now. It’s taken over me. The Enemy actually started out as NME-5, my first DJ name. I quickly grew out of that and changed it. I still use the The Enemy moniker for some hip-hop/extra production.

KB: Which musical genres as well as artists do you find gives you inspiration? And what kind of influence has coming from the south, Atlanta, had on your style of music if any?

TF: I listen to almost everything and it all influences me at least a little bit. For Treasure Fingers, 80’s funk and disco is the biggest point of influence. I think a lot of the R ‘n B and rap I listen to comes through a little also. I love southern rap, and the vibe of the Atlanta club music scene and (I) hope a little of that comes across through my music.

KB: How did you meet up with the folks at Fools’ Gold and A-Trak and eventually getting signed to the label?

TF: I had quite a few mutual friends but what actually brought it all together was A-Trak sending me a MySpace message saying something like ‘hey! I like your music and run a label, are you interested (in) releasing some records with us?’ Since then, I’ve become good friend with A-Trak, Nick Catchdubs and the rest of the Fool’s Gold family; they’re all really good people.

KB: Ok so straight up I have to say I love your track Cross the Dancefloor, when I first heard it I was quite blown away. The melodies and production work are ridiculous. What was the process of making that track?

TF: Thanks! It started out as just an instrumental filter disco house type track. Then one day I decided to try to put vocals on it. The next day I thought it might be cool to have some girl vocals responding back to my male vocals. The overall production is pretty simple, just a clean kind of poppy track. There’s a sample in there (the filtered disco part during the first breakdown), but I played the rest of the synths, bass, drums and built the track up around the sample just in case we couldn’t get it cleared. Luckily, it got cleared and I’m blown away at how well the song as done thus far.

KB: Recently you remixed Chromeo’s track 100% and they remixed your track Cross the Dancefloor, how did that partnership come about? Were you always into Chromeos’ stuff prior to Fool’s Gold?

TF: Yeah, for sure. I first heard of Chromeo from some DJ mix they had released years ago. Lots of old classic 80s funk, I didn’t know they were writing or producing their own stuff until I heard Needy Girl. I love their work, great guys too. I didn’t meet or get in touch with them until Fool’s Gold signed Cross the Dancefloor. A-Trak hit me up one day and said his brother and P-Thugg loved it and he wanted to get them to remix it. My remix for them came through some Bacardi promotion they were coordinating with Vice Records, I got asked if I wanted to remix 100% and of course agreed to it. 100% is one of my favorites off that album.

KB: As is mine, and that remix of yours is also bananas.

KB: For all the gear heads out there, what do you use to create tracks / remixes?

TF: I use a PC running Cubase SX 3, I know I need to upgrade to 4, as my main sequencer. As far as instruments, I use a lot of VSTs, some hardware synths (Roland JX3P, Roland Alpha Juno-1, Yamaha DX100, Korg MS10), a couple guitars (Gibson SG, Fender Strat), Heil Talk Box, MPC 2000xl, Fender Rhodes mark V, and a lot of other smaller fun things.

KB: In an interview that I checked out between you and Kill The Noise you mentioned that you wanted to move towards more of a live show by the end of the year, is that something that’s still in the works?

TF: Definitely! The live show won’t be ready for a while though. I’m concentrating on finishing the album now, but once it’s done I’m going to focus on putting the band together and hitting the road.

KB: So staying on topic with the album, when can fans expect it? Or has touring been taking up a lot of your time?

TF: Touring and remixing has been taking up all my time lately. Next year will be the time for a full-length album. I have a lot of tracks half finished & demo tracks already, I just need to pick out the best and finish them.

KB: What are some of your upcoming projects and collaborations that you can talk about?

TF: Not too much I can talk about right now really. I just finished a bunch of new remixes that should be coming out over the next several months. You can check my MySpace or website and see the full list of remixes I’ve done to date. I’m currently finishing one for Miami Horror Don’t Be On With Her for Virgin/EMI in Australia.

KB: So with your busy schedule are you still involved with or plan to work with Evol Intent?

TF: Yes, we have a live show we’ve been doing at bigger events and festivals. We’re working on new material now, and also doing a couple new remixes. One is for Shiny Toy Guns Ghost Town and the other is a dubstep remix of Tech Itch & Kemal The Calling.

KB: Dope. So changing course, what are Treasure Fingers current top 5 tracks that you can’t stop listening to?

TF: Drop Out Orchestra Gibbon, D’Stephanie Rock the Disco, Van She Kelly (Breakbot remix), JR Disco What Cha Going To Do, Matt Hughes Can’t Talk Now

KB: Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.

TF: No Problem, Thank you!

• Treasure Fingers website
• Treasure Fingers MySpace

Blood, breasts and boundless screaming. Not a crazy goth horror porn but in fact the latest DVD offering from the most famous French facial hair wearers in pop music culture - Justice.  With Romain Gavras (the guy behind the controversial Stress video) at the helm of this tour doc slash live CD- DVD combo, ‘A Cross The Universe’ should be a mainstay of any breathing music lovers collection.’Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’…? Thank Gaspard for that!!!!! Fresh from the maddest American tour ever, Justice indoctrinate Eleanor into their fluffer cult, we find out why Gaspard can never go to Las Vegas again and also unearth a must see spicy secret in this episode of:

Eleanor Conway Presents: A Little Justice - in association with music.virgin.com

WARNING: lots of extremely inappropriate nudity, swearing and general rock ‘n roll behaviour ensues.

Justice’s site

Eleanor Conway’s site

Download Eleanor Conway Presents: Buraka Som Sistema Podcast

Having won the MTV VMA for best Portuguese act following the release of their second album Black Diamond, Buraka Som Sistema are on the prowl in bringing credible urban world music to the masses. They’ve identified collaborators MIA, Diplo and Switch, Kano and Hot Chip as the metaphorical musical magpies that they are, and they join me on the first Eleanor Conway Presents: Podcast in association with music.virgin.com to share their musical inspirations behind their sound- the sound of Kuduro.

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myspace.com/burakasomsistema