Asian Dan

The mysterious 18 year old Welsh producer Koreless crafted this 30 min minimix for the blog and answers a few questions that offer a slight peak into his musical mind. Be on the look out for new music and remixes from Koreless in the near future. Follow @koreless on Twitter.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/May%202010/Koreless%20-%20Asian%20Dan%20Presents%20%22The%20Cranny%20Cast%22%20Mix%20-%20asianmandan.com.mp3]
Asian Dan Presents Koreless “The Cranny Cast” Mix

Asian Dan Q&A: Koreless

1. Who is koreless? How would you describe your music?

My tunes are a blend of everything I’m feeling, on a musical tip or not. As cliché as it sounds, my whole life revolves around music. Everything that happens around me ends up going directly into my tunes.

2. What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Early jungle is a huge influence, I was never there, but I wish I was. There’s an energy of tunes from that era, early 90’s, that’s just not comparable to anything else. I can’t quite pin point it, its the same with 2 step. It gives me a floating feeling, I was walking down Sauchiehall street, with “tom and jerry – on and on” playing through, and it was just amazing, everything sort of married together. Thats what I get from music, the right tune at the right time, just puts things into perspective. I work backwards from this when I make tunes, see what’s missing at that moment, and fill the gap.

3. What is the Glasgow electronic music scene like versus the rest of the UK? With acts like Rustie and Hudson Mohawke coming out of Glasgow it must feel like an exciting time.

Yeah Glasgow is a lively place to be just now, Theres a load of decent nights, Lucky me run ballers social club, pushing the beat side of things, Fortified and Numbers always have cool bookings as well, Kode 9, Floating Points, Zed bias to name a few… Theres mungos hi fi who run the reggae and dub nights, they booked congo natty not long ago whitch was absoloutly amazing!
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Fare Soldi fell upon my ears when I first heard their super italo/acid tune “Tuto Tutti Sempre Subito” – a tune I still bump often. The duo were gracious enough to answer a few questions as well as hooks us up with a mix they made for Scion. Check it.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/May%202010/fare%20soldi%20scion%20mix/Fare%20Soldi%20-%20Scion%20me%20what%20you%20got.mp3]
Download: Fare Soldi “Scion: Me What You Got”

1. Who is Fare Soldi? How would you describe your music?

Fare Soldi are two charming 30 y.o. with “the most and the worst” beautiful taste for everything you can find in life.
Often this is an incredible styling advantage, and just sometimes it could bring troubles. For example when putting ketchup over chocolate cakes. This strange blend makes what we call “Frico Disco”, a kind of sweaty heavy greasy disco music.

2. What was your first musical memory?

It’s quite a secret, but we met each other when we were 10 years old and started doing a cover band of the Blues Brothers. We did gigs dressed with big jackets from our parents, jumping and dancing and performing in playback. After the Milli Vanilli scandal in 1990, we felt we were the next music superstars to fall, so we changed direction. And today we can proudly say that at least our grammies are safe.

3. What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

A lot of stuff, definitely. But what made us to decide to be musicians most of any other thing, was people with moustaches.
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GRUMS is a UK producer that has been making his rounds in the blogosphere for the past year or so with his fantastic productions and remixes. From the likes of Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, and Passion Pit – Grum has touched them all. Check out his new singe “Cant’ Shake this Feeling” and some live dates here in North America. He will be in NYC tonight at Santos with The Twelves. I will be giving away guestlist spots via Twitter for the GRUM x The Twelves party in LA May 8, so be on the look out on the Asian Dan Twitter.

Can’t Shake This Feeling (Album Version)byHeartbeatsheartbeats

Asian Dan Q&A: GRUM

1. Who is GRUM? How would you describe your music?

GRUM is all your wildest dreams come true. Whatever they may be. Probably. My music is probably best described as big, camp, sexy dance music. I saw it described as Power Disco earlier, not sure about that one.

2. What was your first musical memory?

I remember hearing Human League’s Don’t You Want Me on some local radio station and recording it to a tape when I was like 7. I listened to it over and over on repeat for days, loved it.

3. What are your influences musical or otherwise?

I’m mostly a music guy; I have appreciation for art and stuff like that but really I’m just obsessed/influenced by sound. So that means all the artists which have really inspired me…I guess Daft Punk, Giorgio Moroder, and all those random obscure amazing 80s disco records that pop up on blogs. I’m really enjoying Barry Gibb’s production for various 80’s artists right now so I’m sure I’m absorbing lots of those influences.

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Greetings Blogosphere. As you all know I have been raving about Penguin Prison for the past few months for his ability to craft such polished and catchy pop tunes with substance and conviction. April 8 marks Penguin Prison’s first full band live debut – a new incarnation of these pop songs in a live and raw environment at NYC’s Mercury Lounge. I am quite excited to see what a live band will do to these polished tunes. Chris Glover aka the ringmaster behind Penguin Prison was kind enough to answer a few questions about his musical endeavors.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/March%202010/Penguin%20Prison%20-%20The%20Worse%20It%20Gets.mp3]
Penguin Prison – The Worse It Gets

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/April%202010/Golden%20Silvers%20-%20True%20Romance%20(Penguin%20Prison%20Remix).mp3]
Golden Silvers – True Romance (Penguin Prison Remix)

Asian Dan Q&A: Penguin Prison

1. Who is Penguin Prison? How would you describe your music.

Penguin prison is me. I’m penguin prison.
I would describe my music as pop music by someone who cares.

2. What was your first musical memory?

I remember having a Michael Jackson doll and I rememeber my parents having the thriller record and playing it on a fisher price record player. I remember taking the Michael Jackson doll around with me. One of my earliest foggiest memories is of me holding the Michael Jackson doll and being at NBC studios behind the scenes because my best friend’s mom was a producer at NBC.

3. What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

I am influenced by people I know mainly. For some reason it helps me to actually know people who make music and see them doing it firsthand. It makes me feel like I can do what they are doing.

4. Last year I feel marked a new era of pop within the indie scene – an amalgamation of electronic, pop, rock with acts such as Grizzly Bear, Miike Snow, Passion Pit and Phoenix all leading the way in this “Intelligent Pop” music scene. I feel like you are definitely going down a similar path. Thoughts on this? And what sort of vision/perception are you trying to put out of yourself through your music?

Intelligent pop is a good term probably. I am trying to make pop music but goof pop music. There is a difference between the backstreet boys and Michael jackson. Both are labeled pop but everyone can tell the difference.

Hopefully the vision of what I am trying to put out there will slowly be revealed as time goes by.

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I’ve been a fan of this Australian duo, Gypsy & The Cat since they hit the blogosphere about a year ago. A perfect blend of that Oceanian musical sensibility that takes in elements of 60s carefree pop, 70s FM radio pop, 80s synth pop and everything else that is catchy in between. I hear a lot of Fleetwood Mac in their music, as I do in a lot of Australian bands (Empire of the Sun, Van She) but there is also a touch of 90s pop. Overall a carefree pop sound that is perfect for the upcoming summer sunshine. Lionel and Xavier took some time to answer a few questions to get you all acquainted with their sound – a brief peak into their musical minds. Also checkout a playlist the two of them compiled of some of their favorite tunes.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/March%202010/Gypsy%20&%20The%20Cat/Unknown%20Album/Jona%20Vark.mp3]
Gypsy & The Cat – Jona Vark

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/March%202010/Gypsy%20&%20The%20Cat/Unknown%20Album/’Til%20Tomorrow.mp3]
Gypsy & The Cat – ‘Til Tomorrow

Asian Dan Q&A: Gypsy & The Cat:

1. Who is Gypsy & The Cat? How would you describe your music?

Xavier: Gypsy is indiscriminate, whatever anyone feels, its not for us to decide. Sonically I’d like to think that the music yields a title of melodic electronic soft rock, but once you inhale the breath of the album, things change. Who knows maybe hardcore? I’ll let you decide!

Lionel: Gypsy & The Cat is basically 2 friends who just want to make good music and share it with the world!!! it’s a blend of different genres and influences but ultimately lies within a rock/ folk electronic landscape.

2. What are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Xavier: Jeff Buckley is a standout influence, even though its so hard to pinpoint because we are just so amazed by many artists, Jeff tells great honest stories in such a musical way. Every chord, lyric, vocal melody just fits like a jigsaw: a picture is born.

Lionel: Musical: Bach, if it wasn’t for Bach, music wouldn’t be where it is today!! Michael Jackson (the king of pop), Led Zeppelin (the kings of rock), Coldplay (a band who makes me feel the most, and whose music i connect with on so many levels), Justice (the magicians of production), ABBA (little can compare to genius of their songwriting and amazing wall of sound), non-musical: Bruce Lee, Stanley Kubrick (both influences i’ve grown up with)

3. What was your first musical memory?

Xavier: Probably birth!
Lionel: Crying on the way to my first piano lesson. I was 7
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A little piece that Mediacontender, EIKNARF, kloud and I put together on Mr. A-Trak. Enjoy!

Artwork by EIKNARF

THE ORION is now upon us. Shuttle has crafted the most epic mix to ever grace this blog. One Hour and Forty-Five Minutes of deep bass, UK 2-Step Garage, Dubstep goodness. If you listen to this all at once I applaud you. Checkout a little Q&A with Mr. Shuttle as he divulges his love of UK electronic music and why it took so long to get me this mix, 10 Months – but I must say it was well worth the wait.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Feb%202010/shuttle%20-%20orion%20mix/Shuttle%20-%20Asian%20Dan%20Presents%20The%20Orion%20Mixtape%20-%20asianmandan.com.mp3]
Download: Asian Dan Presents Shuttle “The Orion Mixtape”

Asian Dan Q&A:

1. Who is Shuttle? How would you describe your music?

Legally, I am Nathan Donmoyer from Leonardtown, Maryland, but I go by Shuttle because I try to make music that transports the listener through different places in a believable yet refreshing path.

2. What are biggest influences, musical or otherwise?

The rhythm section, drums and bass, bass and drums. The rhythm section is the most powerful ingredient, you can have the same chicken, noodles and vegetables raw to start, but with rhythm and bass you can make 1,000 thai, indian, italian, mexican, or japanese dishes. All delicious. That and all UK bass music. I love it all. Slow, fast, swung, straight, instrumental, mc’s, diva’s. I wonder if I was born in london if I would appreciate it as much…

3. This mix is anything but an Asian Dan MINImix, it is the most epic/longest mix ever to grace this blog – 34 tracks clocking in at 1 hour and 45 mins. What took so long and what was some of your inspiration for it?

Ok, to contradict my Anglophilia from above, I have to say, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND mini-mixes. It’s this BBC British phenomenon I can’t understand. Plus, I told you would do this mix in April 2009 so when I finally got around to doing it this week I thought I owed you at least 90 minutes right? Mp3 = freedom from 74 minute compact discs, why not embrace the long form?
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Shook is a Dutch producer/DJ that crafts a more musical sounding sound in the electronic/banger world. He follows suit in other electronic acts such as Kavinsky, Danger and Daft Punk by creating an alternate universe with an animated self that produces a mystique and allure, allowing his music to speak for itself. I was most impressed by his piano skills – check out the video below that won me over with his fantastic Rhodes solo. Siriusmo is a fan of his work and Shook has just finished up a remix of Emil & Friends’ “Josephine” which is waiting to be approved – so let us see what Shook has in store for us.

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Feb%202010/Shook%20-%20Rise%20And%20Fall.mp3]
Shook – Rise And Fall

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Feb%202010/shook%20-%20something%20about%20you.mp3]
Shook – Something About You

1. Who is Shook? How would you describe your music?

Shook is a musical and visual outlet to escape from the world we live in today. It all began in my childhood really, when I found the glasses and I first came eye to eye with Beast. Since then nothing was like it was before. I would describe my music as electronic story telling funk.

2. What was your first musical memory?

My first musical memory is probably the constant Jazz piano playing by my father.

3. Who are your influences musical or otherwise?

I grew up listening to music ranging from Micheal Jackson and Prince to George Gerswin and Claude Debussy. Recently I have been listening to a lot of old jazz records and early 70’s funk. But, it doesn’t necessarily need to be music. It can be anything really. Like the sound of a microwave or the sounds of a skateboard. I can be influenced by art and animation too.
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Boston’s own Shuttle has been making quite big moves this year with his little band, Passion Pit but his remixes of acts such as Phoenix have been showing how versatile of a musician and producer he is. His style of dubstep is not your typical wonky basslines, but his music is sound is definitely HUGE in a good way. I could not get enough of his remix of Phoenix’s “Love Like a Sunset” and his recent remix of Body Language’s “Work This City” is quite a catchy one. I love that he included one of my favorite remixes of the year, Joy Orbison’s remix of Four Tet – a massive talent that Nate and I have talked about numerous times.

Be sure to catch him at Webster Hall 1.8.2010 with Holy Ghost! and Classixx to witness his DJing magic. What Shuttle has in store for Twenty-Ten, who knows, maybe a remix of Lady Gaga & Beyonce or a remix of P Diddy featuring Biggie or maybe even finally a mix for Asian Dan…who knows?

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Dec%202009/TOP/No%20Security%20(feat.%20Kelis)%20(Hot%20City%20Remix).mp3]
– Crookers ft. Kelis – “No Security (Hot City Bass Mix)
– Gucci Vump – “Sha!Shtil! (L-Vis 1990 Remix)”
– Ramadanman – “Revenue (Untold Remix)”
– Friendly Fires – “Jump in the Pool (Thin White Dukes Remix)”
– Yacht – “Psychic City (Classixx Remix)”
– The Streets – “Blinded By The Lights (Nero Remix)”
– Four Tet – “Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix)”
– Florence and the Machine – cover of “You Got the Love”(the xx remix)
– La Roux – “In for the Kill (Skream Let’s Get Ravey Mix)”
– Udachi and Jubilee – “Smoke Rings (Luna C remix)

You are probably wondering who is this “Sam” – and why does he get to put together a list for Asian Dan. He just looks like some skinny French hipster that enjoys bangers way too much. But this is Sam, the Sam, Asian Dan intern Sam. He is more than just an intern but my eyes and ears overseas finding me fresh new music everyday. You can even think of him as the French Asian Dan, I now bestow him Asian Sam.

He had a hardtime narrowing down his favorite music of 2009 which why his list is quite robust. But I know that we both are in love with Emil & Friends’ “Josephine” and we constantly listened to it over the summer. We are both looking forward to what Emil & Friends has in store for Twenty-Ten now that he and co have signed to Cantora Records. Also check out his fav mixes especially that Breakbot “Dance on Glass Disco Mix” and the Grum Annie Mac 5 Min Minimix.

Top of 2009

Album (10):
Florence and The Machine «Lungs»
Toro Y Moi «My Touch»
The Gossip «Music For Men»
Phoenix «Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix»
Washed Out «High Times»
Letting Up Despite Great Faults «LUDGF»
The XX «XX»
La Roux «La Roux»
Passion Pit «Manners»
SomethingALaMode «SALM»

Top 15 Songs of 2009:

[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/Sept%202009/Emil%20&%20Friends%20-%20Josephine-1.mp3]
Emil & Friends – Josephine
Paul – Shine Sweet Freedom
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Bullion – Get Familiar
Ellie Goulding – Fighter Plan
Fake Blood – The Dozens
Siriusmo – Gummiband
Organ Morgan – Cocaine Afternoon
Fenech Soler – Lies
Two Door Cinema Club – Costume Party
Phonat – Set Me Free (Short Version)
Memory Tapes – Bicycle
80 Kidz – Miss Mars
Dusty Kid – Nemur (Wall of Guitars)
Cassius – Youth Speed Trouble Cigarettes

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