Montreal’s Tiga lays it down in the woods with a strangely interesting video for What You Need, off 2009’s “Ciao!”

Tiga ‘What You Need’ on Vimeo.

Crookers are definitely a favourite here at Weekend Bangers, and I was really impressed when I heard this “rework” of their song Remedy (feat. Miike Snow) by Jeuce. Jeuce is an “electropunk” crew from Leeds that’s done a bunch of really big remixes, including some rad and crunchy ones for Ellie Goulding and Ladytron.

Crookers – Remedy (feat. Miike Snow) (Jeuce rework)

Jeuce on MySpace

Get the new Crookers album, “Tons of Friends”, out this WEEK!

The video for Let Go, the first single from jj’s upcoming “no.3″ album, came out this week.

The track was released for free as a digital single on the Sincerely Yours website in January, along with a B-side called My Way. My Way won’t be on the album, but it’s an amazing track. It’s got Lil Wayne’s part from Trina’s song “Don’t Trip”, finally hanging a lampshade on their homage to Lil Weezy.  If the material released so far is any indication, jj’s no.3 will be a delightful album.

VEELA BEATS!

It’s always a pleasure to share some local talent. I recently heard about a talented dance music producer called Veela from up in Sidney, BC.  Apparently she’s only like 17 years old, which is weird because I didn’t know there was anyone under the age of like 75 in Sidney, hur hur hur. Check out Veela’s poppy-trancey Exposure 3.2.

VEELA on Facebook

Borgore is an Israeli dubstep producer from Tel Aviv who is positively FILTHY.  He’s also a drummer in a metal band, and that influence definitely shows in his electronic work. His beats are so dirty that he calls it “gorestep”.

This  is Borgore – Guided Relaxation Dub. Do not listen if you’re not near a shower.

Utterly muddy chune, that. I apologize. As soon as I heard the drop in, I knew this song was going to be an ordeal, but somehow it gets even dirtier shortly thereafter.

That’ll have to do it for now, I’m off to Vancouver this weekend to get a gold medal in partying with Team Australia (Bankai) and Team USA (Bearbot)!

I missed out on this when it first came out, I think because I was taking a break from Chamillioniare when it was looking like he had gone crazy.. Weezer performed a new version of their song Can’t Stop Partying for AOL’s “Sessions”, with a verse from Chamillionaire in the place of Lil Wayne.
Weezer – Can’t Stop Partying (feat. Chamillionaire)

I almost prefer this new version, maybe just because it’s cool to see these guys performing together.

HEY HEY!

Michigan’s Rai Knight is definitely an artist to watch this year. From what I can tell, Mr. Postman is her debut single, and it shows a lot of promise.  Definitely a fitting song to post on Valentines day.. Mr. Postman (feat. Oseeola) is a song about the many ways you can say “I love you”. Awwwww.
Rai Knight feat. Oseeola – Mr. Postman (LP Version) by FrontStreet Records

DEADLY ELECTRIC

Jeff Gerstmann’s band Midnight Brown has released a new album, by the way. It’s called “Deadly Electric”.. AND IT IS. You can download all of Midnight Brown’s music for free. So do that.

Rad Anthem is the first single by Rad Omen, and they’ve got an accompanying video that I think is pretty creative. The video features four costumed friends who look suspiciously similar to fast food chain mascots, painting the town red and proving they do indeed know how to get down in this city. Probably not best to watch this video if you’re at work because strippers and drugs are featured so prominently (I had to turn it off at work because I’d prefer not to have to explain why I’m watching the Burger King make it rain at a strip club.)

The dancer with the red hair and freckles looks familiar too..

BEAUTIFUL UNICORN!!!!!

Beautiful Unicorn is a synthesizer virtuoso from Alberta that’s partying with Bankai on the fast-approaching Canadian tour.  His track “Spin Dash” was one of the first tracks that made me really fall in love with thesixtyone, which really catalysed my involvement with the site and led to me discovering a LOT of music in 2009.
Spin Dash by Beautiful Unicorn
He’s a beast on the keytar, and that shouldn’t surprise you because he performs in a friggins DINOSAUR SUIT.
Check out Beautiful Unicorn’s website to get your hands on a Calgary STAMPEDE of free electronic dance music.

Ohhhh YES, my dudes! Here’s a few more bangers that are sure to mess you UP.

EEPROM is a talented DJ/Producer from Vancouver that’s teaming up with Bankai and Bearbot as part of their Canadian tour.  thesixtyone is going through some tough times right now so I can’t embed anything from there tonight, but I was able to find something on youtube. Peep EEPROM’s remix of Paramore’s Crush Crush Crush.

Check out EEPROM’s website for more info and of COURSE, free downloads of awesome remixes and original songs.

I also want to mention Harmony Trowbridge, another very talented musician from Vancouver. They featured her song Stallions on The Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio. She’s offering a free download of Stallions on her MySpace blog so go check that out if you dig on folksy guitar tunes.  That same episode of The Vinyl Cafe also featured a new track by Owen Pallett, so it’s worthwhile to get the podcast if you’re into Canadian artists. Big ups to Stuart Mclean! If you ain’t listening to Dave and Morley, what the hell are you listening to?!

OH, AND

As We Enter is the latest track from Nas & Damian Marley’s collaboration “Distant Relatives”. It’s amazing, and you can hear it at Hypebeast. Nasty Nas is credited by his real name, Nasir Jones, so you know this project is somethin’ serious. Distant Realtives drops April 20!

How did I not know about Die Antwoord until this week?

Die Antwoord – Doosdronk (live @ Ramfest 2009)

Afrikaans for “The Answer”, Die Antwoord is one of the many rap projects fronted by South African rapper / satirist Waddy Jones. It’s unusual stuff, I’ll leave it at that!

The video for It’s Okay by Land of Talk is breathtaking. Just LOOK:

We’re talkin’ about hair, we’re talkin’ about mountains and forests. We’re talkin’ about mountains and forests made of hair. It’s directed by a visionary duo called WeWereMonkeys, you can see more of their outstanding work at their website.

BEARBOT!!

Bearbot is a talented remix/mashup DJ and producer from New York. I heard her music for the first time last summer and instantly became a huge fan. She’s joining Bankai on his epic “Bankai vs. Canada” tour, so I’ll be in Langley, sweating to her genius mixes on Feb. 20th.

This is Bearbot – We Don’t Give a FUCK.

Basshunter, Lil Jon, M83, Lil Wayne… That’s what it sounds like when your wildest dreams are realized in a single song.
By the way, Bearbot’s music is all free so get ON IT at the Bearbot website.

M.I.A. released a new video via her Twitter (gross) a few days ago, and it might be called “Space Odyssey“. The understated video makes use of trippy green lights that perfectly complement the chilled-out sound of the track. Since Twitter doesn’t allow people to convey any useful information, I’m not sure if this song will be on MIA’s next record, but it doesn’t appear to be an official single or anything. Enjoy it!

Things got so busy (and biz-zay) at the tail end of last year that I didn’t get to write about some late-09 releases. Here’s a video by N.A.S.A. that I almost forgot about. The song’s called Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith), and as you might expect, it’s a really unusual collaboration. The video looks awesome, and the contrast between Waits’ and Kool Keith’s vocals makes the song work in a pretty unique way.

When I first heard Bankai, I was left blinking and stumbling around the room like I’d just been hit by a train with a cargo of NASTY BEATS.  Bankai, whose earth name is Will Dayble, is a producer of MENACING hard electro/glitchcore from Melbourne, Australia.  He’s become pretty well-established in a very short time by making smart use of the web, and he’s currently preparing for a crowdsourced tour of Canada.  Since Bankai’s music is all free, the tour is funded entirely by fan’s donations.  Bankai has confirmed tour stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Thunder Bay and Toronto so BECOME HYPED ABOUT IT.

I did an email interview with Bankai about the tour. It’s EXCLUUUSIVE so check it OUT.

Weekend Bangers: Your first EP came out in April 2009, how long were you making music before you started releasing songs online?

Bankai: A few months or so, I guess.

What inspired you to start producing music?

SebastiAn. I remember first hearing a SebastiAn track in my friends car and all of a sudden electro seemed like a really good idea.

When did you first start rocking live shows?

Electro? A few months after releasing Quarter Circle Punch. In particular, folks from the Melbourne breakcore scene (Xian and Cat-Grrl in particlar) have been awesome. They got me my first warehouse shows and were very supportive to the new kid… breakcore peeps are rad.

Where do the vocal tracks come from on songs like “Death by Stereo” and “Party Harder”?

I do all vox and instrument stuff. A remarkably talented girl called Erica from the Melbourne band Poor People helps with the feminine vocal bits.

How has your sound evolved since your first release? Are you consciously moving in a particular direction with your newer material, or did I just blow your mind?

I honestly don’t know. It’s been a touch whirlwind thus far. Every song is an experiment.

Why the name “Bankai”, and what does the name say about your musical style?

Haha… okay, nerdiest foot forward. It’s from an anime called Bleach, ‘Bankai’ meaning ‘full release’. I wanted to try and make a musical equivalent of that.

What advice do you have for the noob that wants to get into making electronic music, but has no idea where to start?

Me? I’m a noob myself. I guess the most practical thing in my limited experience would be to put in a solid four hours a day. If a concert pianist can practice hard there’s no reason why any other musician shouldn’t.

Tell us about the equipment you use to create your songs.

Logic for production, Ableton live. A rather buzzy marshall stack and a old 7 string guitar, a reasonably crappy instrument mic for vox. Also gin.
I record myself humming into my phone and work from that a fair bit.

All of your music is released for free under a Creative Commons license, why did you decide to distribute your music for free?

I could ramble about that for far too long. Open source is good. Efficient communication is good. Less noise in the signal is good. Commercial noise, hype and money and all the other noise we’ve become accustomed to. Getting rid of that noise leaves more room for… heart and hope and play-time.

You’ve done a lot to embrace social media as a way of promoting your music and interacting with fans and other artists. Could you talk a little bit about some of the results of marketing your stuff this way?

More than anything it’s gratifying. It’s very – and in the most humanistic way – efficient. Again, signal to noise. Someone can listen to a song and a few seconds later speak to me. A few minutes later I can be downloading stems, and a remix begins. Real people on the other end of the IRC channel.

That efficiency, the stripping away of the bullshit… it seems to leave a bunch more room for meaningful connections between like minds, fans and artists alike. The uniquely internet-based multilateral communication thing is awesome too. Bankai stopped being just one guy a while ago – people sending me samples, other producers doing remixes, people on AIM giving me feedback on early mixes… That awesome guy who runs the t-shirt store, for one. The people helping fund the tour…

I guess ‘DIY’ is morphing into Do It Ourselves, or something.

What’s it like planning a crowdsourced international tour?

Weird. I didn’t expect or plan this. It just kinda spluttered forth thanks to some amazingly cool people. Terrifying and wonderful. The actual nitty gritty of shows and flights and things is batshit boring and tedious. That’s to be expected, though.

Just so we’re clear, you DO know that Canada in February isn’t as balmy as the weather you’re used to in Australia, right?

Hold on…. I get to make snowballs. That is so awesome. I am so goddamn excited about snowballs. Australia at the peak of summer can bugger off. Give me ice-bears any day.

You’ve got fans in all corners of the globe that want to fly you out to party with them, what’s left before you can say you’re a bonafide rock star?

Hahah oohhh no no, I don’t see myself becoming a rock star. Don’t be silly.

Once Bankai achieves world domination, could you see yourself making music full-time and hanging up your web-development gloves?

Gosh, I don’t know. Being the Art Director at a small firm is seriously satisfying too. I work with my best friend there. Design is fun

Finally, is there anything you’d like to add?

Nothing poetic. See y’all in Vancouver! Oh, actually: the big rad show is going to be 20th of February in Vancouver. Folks can email will@bankai.fm to get mitts on the good tickets before they disappear…

Thanks so much!

Thank you, megamuch.

BANKAI!! A class act.

Download all of Bankai’s music for free from www.bankai.fm, Bankai’s SoundCloud, or from Bankai on TheSixtyOne. Read more about the tour at Bankai Kills Vancouver. You’ll see why Bankai has everyone super jazzed about his Canadian tour. You’ll also taste copper, but that’s normal.

Bankai – Faun
Faun by Bankai

Bankai – PARTY HARDER
Bankai – PARTY HARDER by Bankai