2008 is coming to a close. It was quite an eventful and exciting musical year. So many great tracks, albums, and remixes by new and old artists and so much music to look forward to in 2009. It is now that time for the obligatory Top 10’s of 2008. I am featuring Asian Dan’s Top 10 Tracks, Albums, Remixes, and Shows of 2008. But I also asked a few artists, bands, DJs/Producers, blogger friends of mine to contribute their own Top 10 of 2008.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! 2009!
Top 10 Tracks of 2008
1. Mystery Jets – Young Love
2. Cazals – Somebody, Somewhere
3. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange Overtones
4. Hey Champ – Cold Dust Girl
5. Tiga – Mind Dimension
6. MGMT – Electric Feel
7. Foamo – Moving It Over Here
8. MSTRKRFT - VUVUVU
9. Laidback Luke & A-Trak - Shake It Down
10. Late of the Pier – Focker
Top 10 Albums of 2008
1. Soulwax – Nite Versions Live at Fabric & 120 other places
2. Mystery Jets – 21
3. Cazals – What Of Our Future
4. Late of the Pier- Fantasy Black Channel
5. Justice – A Cross The Universe: Live Album
6. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
7. The Virgins – The Virgins
8. Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality
9. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
10. The Stills – Oceans Will Rise
Top 10 Remixes of 2008
1. Ladyhawke - Back of the Van (Fred Falke Ultimate Beverly Mix)
2. Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Epic Last Song (Lifelike Remix)
3. PNAU - Embrace ft. Ladyhawke (Fred Falke & Miami Horror Remix)
4. Hot Chip – Touch Too Much (Fake Blood Remix)
5. The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy, Hey Girl (Soulwax Remix)
6. Pin Me Down – Cryptic (Dubka Remix)
9. Cut Copy - Lights & Music (Boys Noize Happy Birthday Remix)
10. Das Pop – Underground (Van She Club Remix)
Top 10 Shows of 2008
1. Soulwax – Irving Plaza – Pete Tong’s Insiders- NYC – 10.24.2008
2. Sébastien Tellier – The Mod Club - Toronto - 8.4.2008
3. Fleet Foxes – Sommerville Theatre – Boston, MA – 10.6.2008
4. MSTRKRFT – The Estate – Boston - Fist of God Tour – 10.13.2008
5. Sigur Rós - Bank of America Pavillion – Boston – 9.19.2008
6. Holy Fuck – Wrongbar – Toronto – 5.16.2008
7. Cazals – Hiro Ballroom – NYC – 11.6.2008
8. Late of the Pier - Irving Plaza - Pete Tong’s Insiders- NYC – 10.24.2008
9. A-Trak – Sunnyside Pavillion – Time Festival – Toronto – 8.10.2008
10. The Bloody Beetroots – Studio B – Brooklyn – 3.7.2008
11. Congorock – The Estate – Boston - Fist of God Tour – 10.13.2008
Checkout Hey Champ’s, NT89’s, Astrolabe’s, Luck on Strike’s, FRNKCOIS’ and Glenjamn’s Top 10 of 2008 after the jump.
Those wonderful Chicago boys, Hey Champ hooked Asian Dan up with an exclusive Minimix. It is a wonderful journey into their musical minds. Supertramp! Check out a little Asian Dan Interview with Hey Champ.
0. Intro
1. Newcleus - Jam on Revenge
2. Baby’s Gang - Challenger
3. Hey Champ - Face Control
4. Supertramp - The Logical Song
5. Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl (80 Kidz Remix)
6. Gusto - Disco’s Revenge
7. Cube - Concert Boy
Asian Dan Interviews: Hey Champ
1. Who is Hey Champ? How would you describe your music?
–Saam (vox, guitar), Jonathan (drums, vox), Pete (synths)
–We are a pop band with influences from rock, electro & disco.
2. What are your influences? Musical or otherwise? What are your first musical memories?
–We’ve all played instruments as long as we can remember. We also suffered from lisps as children and that probably contributed to the amount of time spent on music due to the related social marginalization.
Plus Move has hooked Asian Dan up with an exclusive mix of their favorite songs and a few demo tracks from their upcoming EP entitled Worthy as well as a few of their favorite songs.
1. Who is Plus Move? How would you describe your music?
Plus Move is Paul Mihailoff, Josh Shifrin & Sphinx. Our music was born in the year 2099 as the means and celebration of the victory over BOSS.
2. Who are your influences? What was your first musical memory?
Everything from Lil Wayne to House Of Pain to SebastiAn to Basil Poledouris to The Bloody Beetroots to The Beatles. Our first musical memory is Sesame Street.
3. Who are your favorite DJs/Producers?
Our favorite DJ is Busy P. Our favorite producer is Breakbot.
Asian Dan Presents Thailand’s own Cyndi Seui with a 9 Minimix exclusively for Asian Dan. Enjoy the minimix and interview.
Tracklist
1. Eternity…….Capsule
2. When We Were Young (Shazam RMX) ….Sneaky Sound System
3. FlashBack…….Cyndi Seui …Kitsch Cat Compilation 001
4. DJ SAV MY LIFE ( Cyndi Ready Riot Dmix )
5. Cold Dust Girl ( 80kidz RMX )…Hey Champ
6. Dead or Alive - You spin me round (Nari & Milani RMX)
7. Little Bit ( AutoErotique Bootleg RMX )….Lykke li
8. Pogo ( Shinichi Osawa DUB )…Digitalism
Cesar B. de Guzman aka Cyndi Seui is an electronic music producer in Bangkok running a music blog/ mini label by the name of KITSCH CAT…..In general….i werk as a senior music producer in smallroom music label ( Bangkok pop music label ). One part of my life is doing a commercial music for TVC and radio mostly around asia and some in Europe. And the other part of my werk is producing artist in Smallroom music label. And Kitsch Cat is all for my own passion of making electronic music with my friend….”Kitsch Cat is the next Big thing for me to continue making electronic music possible”
AutoErotique was once known as VNDLSM, the banger-tastic Toronto duo that brought you those great remixes of Rihanna & Chaka Khan. Keith, 1/2 of AutoErotique sent me over this bootleg remix of Lykke Li’s “Little Bit”, good stuff. The duo was just recently signed to Mr. Aoki’s Dim Mak Records and will be releasing a new EP soon. Let’s see what these Torontonians have in store for the dance world.
1. Who is Autoerotique? Why the name change from VNDLSM?
Autoerotique is Diet Dave & Keith Lite, they are the younger cousins of VND and his friend LSM
2. What is like to be part of the Toronto music scene?
Toronto is amazing in terms of music. We have so many amazing groups\acts breaking out, Thunder Heist, Nacho Lovers, Jokers of the Scene (Ottawa is close enough to toronto), of course MSTRKRFT & Deadmau5 to name a few.
I hope everyone had an eventful Halloween and a lovely October. p e a c e Fire crafted this lovely mix for the blog and is a lovely way to close out the month. p e a c e FIRE Myspace
Maethelvin - Dragster (NightWaves Edit)
p e a c e FIRE - Baghdad Rainbow (Keenhouse Remix)
Fakebeat - L.A. Gear
NightWaves - Blue Dress
Why Not - Comet 059
Heavy Rotation - Run For Your Life (Diamond Cut Rerun)
Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (Chromeo Remix)
Electric Youth - Replay (Bestrack Remix - p e a c e FIRE Edit)
Astrolabe - A Trial Run
David Rubato is one of the most exciting producers to come out in quite a while. He adds a level of class and musicality to the ever growing genre of electronic dance music. He channels such greats as Jean Michel Jarre and Giorgio Moroder, mad scientists that twisted and turned knobs to dial in the perfect blend of sine and square waves. Circuit is one of my favorite dance tracks of the past few years. Amazing bass part and squelching synth. I cannot wait to hear more from Mr. Rubato.
Siriusmo is leading the way in the kraut dance scene and his remix of Mr. Rubato’s Circuit is further proof of his production magic. The psuedo French suave monologue kind of gets annoying
Asian Dan Interview: David Rubato
Where does the name David Rubato comes from ?
My parents named me David after Oistrakh and i picked up Rubato while joking with friends on my piano style being all about voicings.
What are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?
My inner drive to move forward.
Could you describe your production style ? What is your main way of composition? Is the groove, bassline/drums, the first and most crucial element you work on?
I compose and produce by going back and forth between associative thinking to accumulate ideas–of objects, goals, techniques, principles etc.–and applying them with methodical attention to every detail, as I consider that all aspects and elements are decisive. I find it somehow similar to solving a puzzle: clusters happen but there’s no strict processing order. My work is done when each second of the record induces in me the exact feelings i’m after. This MO developped itself over time, partially in reaction to the early remixes i did, for Spencer&Hill and NyLon, which I don’t like at all.
Circuit is one of my favorite dance tracks I have heard in quite a few years, I know it was all a live recording with real bass and you twisting knobs on a modular synth what was your main inspiration behind that track?
Thanks. There were two main ideas, one of which you mentioned: experimenting with real time and looking for strong sensations.
Your music is crafted and composed like composers and producers from the 70s/early 80s, are you trying to bring back that level of musicality to dance music?
I get a kick out of challenging myself, working on my skills and creating what suits my tastes. It’s an inner adventure. Curiosity for music made thirty years ago is part of that process but I don’t think in terms of “what dance music needs” and I’m not trying to bring back anything.
What is it like to be part of the Institubes family?
It’s very interesting.
What do you think is the next “big thing” in music? I feel like dance music in particular is trying to clean itself up and polish its sound, shake off all the noise and distortion that Justice started, ha.
I don’t view dance music as a unique entity trying to do one thing more than another. Individuals act based on their unique interests and desires and all possible things are happening at the same time.
I was speaking to Daniel and Luca C. from Cazals and told them that Asian Dan might as well become the official Cazals fan page. They are a fantastic band and released a fantastic album this year, one of my favourite. Anyways here is the next installment in the Cazals band profiles, introducing Martin the bassist and producer of Cazals who also goes under his electronic moniker, Dubka.Here are 2 great Dubka remixes, very pop and 80s. He did a great job nailing those classic 80s drum and synth samples. Catchy stuff
Asian Dan Interviews: Dubka
1. Who is Dubka? What is your first musical memory?
I’m Dubka, I’m a musician and producer. My first musical memory is lying on the floor in front of my dads hi-fi speakers, listening to “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel. I remember the feeling of the bass in my chest and all the amazing contrapuntal vocals.
2. What are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?
I’ve always loved Francis Bacon’s painting and just the way he saw the world and thought about art. Mark Rothko is another influence, which leads me to Morton Feldman and John Cage. I find some of the things these people wrote just as inspirational as their art. Sometimes more so. Musically, I love Stravinsky, Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Strokes, Bartok, Ligeti, Penderecki, Talking Heads, Daft Punk, Laura Branigan, Prince, John Carpenter, Devo, Ariel Pink, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Eurythmics, Stan Bush, Tel Jeroen… I could go on all day.
3. Who are your favorite Producers/DJs?
I think Daft Punk are so far ahead of everyone in so many ways, it’s impossible not to admire them. And I kind of see Oizo as the ring leader of all the new French guys. Nile Rodgers is great, the Persian guy who did the best Chaka Khan stuff, Brian Eno especially with Talking Heads, Phillipe Zdar, Prince, the guy who did MGMT sounds great. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think right now. I’m more into music than production.
4. What are your top 5 tracks you put on to dance?
Well, like most people, it changes all the time but right now I would say:
Once In a Lifetime - Talking Heads
Lucky Star - Madonna
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Savin’ The Day - Alessi Brothers Dare - Stan Bush
5. What to you is a perfectly produced track? Any examples?
That’s a tough one. I don’t think there’s any such thing as perfection. Production is almost like dressing someone. When you see them naked, you might instantly think of something that would accentuate how that person looks, highlight their qualities and hide their flaws. Maybe they look amazing naked. Some people could make a bin bag look good and it doesn’t really matter what you do with them, if anything. So, if you follow my analogy, I think it’s all very subjective and at the end of the day you just end up with one vision, not perfection.
6. What are some difference between producing tracks as Dubka vs. producing Cazals?
I don’t think there are any similarities! The first is me pacing up and down, lying on the floor, not speaking and looking for exactly what it is I want to do and how I see the track. The latter is a compromise of everyone’s artistic vision, technical ability, ego and all the rest of it. If I want to try something, I have to convince the others of my intentions. And then working with Cazals differs from working with another band because I’m much closer to the whole thing. Luckily they’re usually quite tolerant when I tell them I’m right and they’re wrong. Haha!
7. Does your bass playing influence your Dubka production style? I have been playing bass for 10 years and feel that the bassline is the crucial link between the drums and melodies especially in dance/electronic music.
I’m sure it does. Bass was my first instrument so I guess I must relate most things musical to that in some way. I find the interaction between bass and drums and drums and melody really important. They’re like the book-ends of the track that hold everything else in place. Also, playing drums, keyboards and guitar gives me a better understanding of how they interact and how to arrange them and that in turn helps explaining ideas and communicating with other musicians.
8. How do you feel about DJs and electronic producers stepping behind the mixing board like Erol Alkan producing the Mystery Jets and Late of the Pier?
I was skeptical at first but when you think about it, it’s all just a matter of good taste and how you motivate people. Erol is a cool guy and I think he’s done a really great job with the bands I’ve heard him work with. As far as I know, he mixed those records as well, which is very impressive. SebastiAn said he’s working with Peaches and Uffie too but I guess that isn’t such a huge departure, apart from the communication and the compromise.
9. Dubka’s future plans? Cazals future plans?
I’m not sure what’s happening with Cazals. There are a few more gigs to honour this year, then who know’s? As for myself, I’ve just finished a remix for Hearts Revolution which I wish I could show you but it should be released soon. Oh, and I’m just starting one for Sebastien Tellier. I’ve been talking about revisiting an old project of mine with some friends called The Plastic Society (www.myspace.com/wearetheplasticsociety). I always have problems with my own music because I find showing it to others can somehow affect how I view it and that makes it difficult for me to judge exactly what it is I want to do, which I find very important. There’s music in my computer that nobody has heard and maybe never will but I’m talking about it more these days so I’m working on what’s going to become of it. Maybe you’ll see a Dubka album, who know’s?
Mickey Moonlight was kind enough to answer a few questions of mine to try to delve into this strange musical mind that has recently joined the famous Ed Banger Family. All I can say is that Mr. Moonlight listens to music, a lot of music. Here is a quick peek into his, musical mind.
What are your biggest influences? Klaus Nomi, Sun Ra, Mariko Mori, David Bowie, Fela Kuti, Brian Eno, Mike Cooper, P-Funk, Laurie Anderson, General Strike, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Kwadwo Donkoh, Can, Poppin Pete, Coil, Les Baxter, Prince Paul, Cluster, Jon Hassell, Konrad Plank, Daniel Miller, Sly Stone, Nino Nardini, Vangelis, Christian Fennesz, David Byrne, Kraftwerk, Lauire Spiegel, Martin Denny, Roger Roger
J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, Kurt Vonnegut, Anthony Burgess, William S. Burroughs, Alfred Bester, Bernard Wolfe, Don Delillo, Frederick Pohl, Doris Lessing, Jake Chapman, Michael Houellebecq, Michael Marshall Smith, Arthur C. Clarke, David Gerrold, Aldous Huxley, Ursula K. LeGuin.
2. You are definitely a new and interesting surprise to the Ed Banger Team, your addition shows how much those guys just love all music.
Most interesting people aren’t dogmatic in their musical tastes, they enjoy a wide variety music. I am honoured to release on Ed banger. They work with so many fantastic artists, producing distictly modern music. As much of the known Universe is rapidly realising Pedro is a very clever and charismatic leader.
What music did you guys bond over? The music of our mutual friends.
3. I love that you are heavily influenced by Krautrock and Ambient music. What is your favorite musical era? Always the present. But loads from the 1970’s, early 1960’s exotica, 1930’s pop, Victorian music boxes, the harp of King David.
5. What are the top 5 songs that you put on to dance? Born Under Punches and Crosseyed And Painless by Talking Heads Move on up Curtis Mayfield Disco Africa by The Ogyataannaa Show Band Township Funk by Dj Mujava Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald
Who are your favorite DJs? Nathan Gregory Wilkins Optimo Harvey Ivan Smagghe 2ManyDJs The Glimmers
Producers? Jake & Dinos Chapman
6. What are your currently listening to? What do you feel is the next big thing?
I am listening to and loving new music by; Zongamin, The New Sins, Kwes, Apollo Sunshine, DJ Mujava, Findlay Brown, Duffy, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, LCD Soundsystem, Los Super Elegantes, Late of The Pier, History Clock, Naum, Bravo Fimber, HTRK, Uffie, Issakidis, Hot Chip, La Horse, Fennesz, Bishi, Rustie, Busy P, Roots Manuva.
7. Future plans for Mickey Moonlight? Releases, tours? Album and occasional dj gigs and remixes. Some exciting collaborations.
All music shared on this site is copyrighted by the artists and are only meant as samples, please buy their music,
buy their merchandise, see them live, support them, tell your friends about them, love them, cheers.
If you want me to blog about you, have any questions, comments, recommendations, requests, requests to remove tracks,
love for me, or want to advertise on my blog email: AsianDanBlog@gmail.com.
what was your main inspiration behind that track?
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