Artist Preview: $ubPRIME

Three years ago, my good friend Adam and I travelled to Burlington, VT in the dead of winter following our favorite band at the time, The New Deal, to Higher Ground. After their high energy set, and the festivities that followed, we were treated to some rousing original beats by many of Adam's friends from CT. Most notably, for me, was Matt Gutt, who shortly after starting up his laptop and hitting a few buttons on his MPC, had several people asking through the night, "Is that Bassnectar?"

Comparisons aside, Matt Gutt, now $ubPRIME has come into a good sound of his own. According to his MySpace Page , Gutt says he, "...is currently finishing up a live remix PA and looking for gigs in the greater Burlington, Vermont area starting at the end of August." Definitely looking forward to that.
Check him out!

Camp Bisco 8 Review: Pretty Lights

Well another Camp Bisco has come and gone, so I will spend the next few days recapping some of my favorite acts from the 3-day festivus. First up: Pretty Lights.

For me, Pretty Lights epitomizes the spirit of Camp Bisco; not so much in what goes into their music, but what comes out of it. To some, it may be easy to say that musical acts at Camp fall into 3 categories: Live Jam Bands, DJs, and Hip Hop. While Derek Smith, the remaining original member of the two man group, has stated that his production technique relies heavily on software and laptops, and that he has never touched a turntable, his collaboration since 2007 with drummer Cory Eberhard signals that Pretty Light's style is more of a mix between the first and second Camp 'categories.' While the resultig grooves sound similar to many of the live acts at Camp Bisco, like STS9 and Lotus (in past years), the Hip Hop influence is also evident. So while the performance is a blend of live drumming and use of software and the monome, the result is a blend of many of the musical styles that I saw at CB8.

Pretty Light's two most recent albums are available free for download here, so check it out if you want some good listening.

Camp Bisco

If you don't already know about this, you should.


Camp Bisco is the only annual Music Festival devoted primarily to live electronic/dance music. Past lineups have included well known acts such as Snoop Dogg, Umphrey's McGee, Lyrics Born, Brazilian Girls, Infected Mushroom, and lots and lots of glowsticks.


Founded by the Disco Biscuits, who do a great job of bringing together many different acts within this expansive genre, the festival has been noted mostly for its size, which had remained only several thousand people since its inception. And it is in part because of the small size of this festival, that you don't see too many recurrent acts outside of the few 'regulars' (The Disco Biscuits, STS9, etc). This means that the guys in charge save a few slots for the better known artists (this year Nas & Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley), and pack the rest of the slots with up-and-coming acts.


This year it seems to be moving away from the livetronica trend of just two years ago, and more towards a plethora of djs and hip-hop artists. My favorite memories of music festivals are checking out bands I'd never heard before, and falling in love. I expect to do this multiple times two weeks from now, and I hope you'll join me in at the Hell's Angel's Indian Point Country Club in Mariaville, NY on July 16th through the 18th.

Concert Preview: Conspirator @ Highline Ballroom 6/19/09

In the summer of 2007, one of my favorite live bands, the New Deal, was on a break while their bassist pursued an alternative music project. During this time they put on a collaborative effort with a number of other known names throughout the jam music scene. This included members of Sound Tribe Sector 9, the Disco Biscuits, and Medeski, Martin & Wood to name a few. When I saw them with my brother at the Highline Ballroom they performed with Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner (the bassist and keyboard player from the Disco Biscuits) and it was a great time. The energy of Darren Shearer (Percussion) and Jamie Shields (Keyboard) melded seamlessly with the trance infused style of Marc and Aron.

While the New Deal is since reunited and currently touring Japan, the second half of this funky quartet performance is now touring the country under the name ‘Conspirator’, moving away from the sing-along style of their regular group, the Disco Biscuits, and more into the realm of what I enjoy, instrumentals. Joining them will be one of the best personalities in this genre of music today, David ‘Murph’ Murphy of Sound Tribe Sector 9, as well as the brilliant percussionist Lane Shaw of Pnuma Trio. I’m excited to see what having two bassists will do to this collaboration, though I imagine a lot of analog pads will be involved. Should be a great time, so if you’re in town, come check it out at the Highline Ballroom at 431 W. 16th Street between 9th and 10th Ave at 11:30PM.

New STS9 Remixes

An amazing remix of my favorite Soundtribe song from the most recent album, "Peaceblaster." Enjoy "Shock Doctrine (ESKMO Remix):

A Visual Guide to Electronic Music

Thanks to JH for this one: Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music is a great website explaining the evolution and origins of the many genres of dance music. It has some great visual diagrams mapping out the history of all kinds of dance music, with many audio samples for each.


I'm still not sure exactly who Ishkur is, but his intentions are pretty clear:

"To try and pinpoint the exact origins of electronic music, you first have to look at how it's made. Because as amazing as it sounds, electronic instruments did not always exist. The vast majority of them are barely more than 20 years old. And it's not like you can just pick up a sampler, synth and drum machine and jam away. Unlike conventional music, electronic music isn't played, per se. It is PROGRAMMED. So any study of the history of electronic music is really a study of its programmers--that is, the people who make the machines that make the sounds that make the music what it is. Without some guy tinkering with diodes and transistors, electronic music is just a fancy, lifeless hunk of junk. Just sitting there. Not doing anything."

Dance to Save the World

A couple of years ago I read about a sustainable dance club in the Netherlands that had installed pressure tiles on the dancefloor to generate electricity from the kinetic energy all the clubbers generated. This in turn greatly reduced the otherwise massive amount of electrical consumption that most dance clubs are notoriously known for. After some stumbling I found the website for the company that develops these dance floors (Sustainable Dance Club).


While dance clubs and their patrons will probably never escape the negative connotations of hedonism that they are unfortunately associated with, it is refreshing to see some thought and innovation go into something other than the art and music. Cities with lots of clubs would be wise to subsidize endeavours like this.