Everyone around me has been gushing incessantly about Lana Del Rey — the Daisy Duke-clad young woman whose picture you see above — for weeks now. Honestly, I still don’t get her entire musical appeal; however, just this moment, I finally caught on to her alluring voice hearing this irrepressible Joy Orbison remix of her song “Video Games”.

Maybe you’ve already figured her out, which means that this remix is ready-made to get you caught up in the headiness of its groove.

Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Joy Orbison Remix)

ADDENDUM ::: I guess I missed the part where she has 11 million views on YouTube for this song.

Cocaine, it is said, is a helluva drug. And on “Cocaine Blues”, Brooklyn disco aficionados Escort decided to bust out a few lines for everyone at the party. Yeah, they spent hours and hours ironing out the creases in their permanent-press double-knit leisure suits. The girls worked overtime making their bubblegum lip gloss look & taste perfect, put on those damn hot pants & satin jackets, feathered their hair, and gassed up the Delorean for a trip back in time, cruising on downtown to The Roxy.

Not content to simply ride, DJ HOFF called up Pase Rock, straight borrowed that shit and drove it to Los Angeles for a night at the Riot House. While they were there, HOFF made sure he got that shit polished up, Pase spit some verses in it and they brought back a few audio Polaroids from the trip. Enjoy.

Escort – Cocaine Blues (HOFF Remix ft. Pase Rock)

Escort – Cocaine Blues

And yo, check it — HOFF has been mad busy of late — he just finished a mixtape for Han Cholo Designs in L.A. featuring blends & exclusive acapellas from Louisahhh, Spank Rock, and Mobroder along with a special introduction by one of my long-time favorites, Amsterdam glitter hitters LeLe.

Here’s an unexpected, daft and simply terrific re-edit from Hamburg’s Tensnake of Radiohead’s “Everything In It’s Right Place” which might be new or … might not be? Either way, I love it.

[ Purchase :: "Thom Yorke" (2008), Nathan Manire. ]

I figure it’s been a while since I posted any proper remixes on the blog, this one arrived just in time for me to notice, listen, and add it to the queue via osmosis. Some records are so instantly strong that no matter what personality you add or take away from them in a remix, the bare essence shines through.

Kavinsky‘s mind-bogglingly straight-forward take on new wave in the form of the song “Nightcall” dominates the soundtrack to the movie Drive with it’s authenticity crossing waves with a spellbinding feel of modernity. The song here showcases rocked-up guitar parts, a guitar riff which evokes 80′s-inspired comparisons and, all the while, transforms (subtly at times) the whole track into more of an electro/dance track by way of remix engineer and DJ Anthony Atcherley, bumping the tempo slightly and taking some of the bottom end out to create what he (I guess) refers to as “Frenchtouch”. Whatever, the song was great before, this remix is totally on point. Everybody get on up and dance.

Kavinsky – Nightcall (Anthony Atcherley Remix)

[ Anthony Atcherley on Soundcloud ]

PHOTO: Fabrizio Rainone

With sadness, we can now confirm rumors of the passing of Poly Styrene, punk rock icon & lead singer of seminal U.K. punk band X-Ray Spex. According to a posting on her official Facebook page by her long-time friend Symond Lawes, “i just spoke to her mother and its very true, she passed away quietly last night, her mother and daughter were with her, bless you marianne. symond xxx”. The news was further confirmed by her PR team, saying “We can confirm that the beautiful Poly Styrene, who has been a true fighter, won her battle on Monday evening to go to higher places.” She was 53.

::: LISTEN ::: [Full Album Stream] Poly Styrene – Generation Indigo

Often considered the original “riot grrrl” (stemming from her band’s first 1977 single, “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!”), her musical evolution found her wavering between the Germ Free Adolescents proto-punk she pioneered, jazzier experimentations and, more recently, daring power pop, electropop and electro-punk. The artists Poly Styrene has influenced reference a who’s who of popular music over the past 30 years — most recently, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Santigold and The Gossip count among them.

Aside from her status as a punk rock icon, Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott-Said) has been called “a revolutionary with a genuine love for this world and the people and things in it” by those she worked with. She had long been an outspoken counterculture figure, willing to engage in protest to make her point as a tireless advocate for environmental causes, an opponent of rampant consumerism and fighting for the rights of women. Never one to consider herself a protest singer and openly against being labeled a sex symbol, Styrene instead simply wanted to make a difference in the world. “You don’t think you’re doing anything groundbreaking,” she recently told Sinead Gleeson in an interview. “I just made music because I wanted to put good energy out there. I was young and optimistic and you feel you can do anything.”

::: RELATED ::: Poly Styrene Remembered by Kathleen Hanna, Billy Bragg and Beastie Boys

In recent times, Poly partnered with producer Martin Glover (aka Youth of the band Killing Joke) to create a new album, Generation Indigo (which was officially released stateside today, 26 April). The album has been the subject of extensive critical acclaim, including Spin Magazine’s 8/10 rating.

On a spiritual level, Poly Styrene’s search for self in the period after X-Ray Spex brought her to the Hare Krishna’s in the early 1980′s, living for several years in a Hertfordshire Krishna temple with her daughter as she struggled to cope with bipolar disorder. In a candid February interview with the Sunday Times, the 53-year-old Styrene announced to the world that she had been diagnosed with & was battling breast cancer. While outward signs seemed to point towards a recovery, it is apparent that she succumbed to the disease last night.

Poly Styrene leaves behind her mother and a daughter, Celeste. Our condolences go out to her family, her friends, and her many fans around the world.

::: X-Ray Spex – Oh Bondage Up Yours! :::

::: Poly Styrene – Generation Indigo Minimix by Youth :::

Here’s a recent interview with rock journalist John Robb about what would become her final album, Generation Indigo. The album, released today in the U.S., was already slated to be streamed in its entirety by Spinner.Com, a stream which can be heard by clicking here.

::: Related Stories :::
Punk icon Poly Styrene dies [BBC]

Hailed as “America’s first king of Dubstep”, 12th Planet has been scorching the Earth from one end to the other with his prescient dubstep production and DJ skills. The nom de guerre of John Dadzie (he formerly of the drum-and-bass moniker Infiltrata), 12th’s mixes are in the hands of deejays everywhere, he’s worked with all the best, and he’s in Memphis for one night only, 9 April 2011. Performing with the Electrocity DJ’s (Hype Taylor / B. Thornburg / Matthew Ess / Youre_Strooly / Yo!Santos) at Newby’s on Highland, you can expect a swaying, sweating crowd to be out riding the riddim tonight while, in his words, 12th is “melting faces”.

[ Electrocity featuring 12th Planet | Newby's Memphis 539 South Highland | $10 adv/$15 day of show | 18+ ]

12th Planet & Antiserum – Snack Attack (Original Mix) by 12TH PLANET

Check out this 12th Planet DJ mix from Mishka from a couple months back.

12th Planet – Mishka DJ Mix by 12TH PLANET

Nick Catchdubs, pretty much one of the best DJ’s you’re going to hear and co-founder of the inscrutable Fool’s Gold Label, dropped a grip of new tracks last night/this morning live at my alma mater radio station, WNYU.

Live on WNYU 4/6/11 by Nick Catchdubs

Here goes the tracklist which you may read as you listen in:

Danny Brown – Radio Head
Win Win f. Alexis Taylor – Interleave (Kingdom Remix)
KiNK – Antitune
Addison Groove – Sexual
Dem 2 – Holding
Kid Gloves – Music Power
Gotty Boi Chris – Do You Know (Nick Catchdubs x Proper Villains Remix)
Dr Gonzo – Bust Dem Up
Marcus Price & Carli – Jexpert!
Marble Players – Playground
Housemeister – Music Is Awesome (Cosmin TRG Remix)
Ethix – Breakin Bad (Nick Catchdubs x Proper Villains Pumper Mix)
Kito & Reija Lee – On The Jam
Beat Club – Security
Cassian – I Like What You’re Doing (Lorenz Rhode’s Dangerous Mix)
Tyson – Out Of My Mind (Star Slinger Remix)
Radiohead – Separator
SebAstian – Embody

Here’s some brand new housey Dim Mak goodness from Toronto’s Autoerotique remixed by Them Jeans.

Autoerotique – Freak (Them Jeans Remix) by Them Jeans

Every Saturday night at Senses in Memphis starting 9 April 2011, Memphis EDM mainstay (and founder of EDM internet radio station LFO Radio) Justin Hand will be hosting an evening called FREAKOUT. The kickoff event features a long-overdue first Memphis appearance from Chicago house music legend Derrick Carter.

For the past two decades, you would have trouble setting foot on a dance floor anywhere that you weren’t in the rays of Derrick Carter’s work. He has been involved in the creation of house music at every level — label head, producer, composer, remixer — and continues to make the world of house music move, recently contributing to the long running Fabric series and resurrecting the Classic record label. Derrick Carter is one of a very, very small number in dance music for whom the term “legend” has been reserved, and this Saturday night, you should come find out for yourself exactly why.

Check out this recent remix he did for Hercules & Love Affair’s track “My House” and a recent set from Shelter.

My House (Derrick Carter Remix) by moshi moshi music

[ Saturday 9 April 2011 at Senses Nightclub, 2866 Poplar Ave, Memphis | 18 and up, $10 Cover -- RSVP Here ]

NOTE: There will be a pre-event — Our House @ Mollie Fontaine’s on Friday 8 April 2011 — Complete Details Here

Sometimes I get around to things fast, and sometimes I wait for them to simmer. It’s never really my intention to forget bands that are headed to SXSW. But Paris-based Chateau Marmont‘s songs have been in rotation here since the end of February, and it probably should have been much sooner.

The group consists of Julien Galinier, Guillaume De Maria, Angy Laperdrix & Raphaël Vialla who, having done a series of remixes for La Roux, Heartsrevolution, Ladyhawke, and Röyksopp over the past year (to name a few), have released 2008-2009-2010, a compendium of their three exceptional electronic music EP’s, Solar Apex EP, Nibiru EP and the Nibiru Remixes EP along with one track which appears on Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7.

Chateau Marmont’s single, “One Hundred Realities”, as with everything I’ve heard from Chateau Marmont, is a spacey mix of both Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder-influenced Italo-Disco that doesn’t bore itself with trying to fit in with conventional modern techno at all. It’s comfortable to reside on the plains with it’s 80′s counterparts, unashamed that it could just as easily have ended up on the soundtrack for Scarface or American Gigolo.

Chateau Marmont – One Hundred Realities

Their video for “One Hundred Realities”, directed and animated by Japanese artist Shinya Sato, is a journey within.

In addition to 2008-2009-2010, Chateau Marmont has also offered C-M-X Tape for free download, filled with rare electro and disco tracks. My only regret was that I didn’t have the chance to have seen them when they came to the U.S. just two weeks ago. My wish is that they return as soon as possible so that I can.

TV On The Radio. XXXChange. Dancehall. Thoughts?

TV On The Radio – Will Do (XXXChange Dancehall Mix)

OK SO SO SO um, it goes like this: John Legend (yeah) covered Adele (okay). A-Trak & Diplo (mm hmm) made some remixes with the acapella, but so did Skeet Skeet & Turbotito (oh). Everybody disco (okay).

John Legend – Rolling In The Deep (Prod. By Skeet Skeet & Turbotito) by skeet skeet

Cities Aviv – Die Young (CLOUT! Re-Edit)

[ Cities Aviv on Bandcamp | Cities Aviv on Twitter ]

Fresh off their appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Little Dragon ready the release of their new album Ritual Union. In the interim, enjoy (as I am) this track from their new album, entitled “Nightlight”, check out the tracklisting for their record and some upcoming tour dates.

Ritual Union:

01 Ritual Union
02 Little Man
03 Brush the Heat
04 Shuffle a Dream
05 Please Turn
06 Crystalfilm
07 Precious
08 Nightlight
09 Summertearz
10 When I Go Out
11 Seconds

Little Dragon:

05-05 Gothenburg, Sweden – Parken
05-06 Stockholm, Sweden – Strand Club
05-08 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
05-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
05-11 London, England – Heaven
05-12 Glasgow, Scotland – King Tuts
05-13 Paris, France – TBA
05-14 Brighton, England – Digital
05-15 Brussels, Belgium – AB Club
05-18 Hamburg, Germany – Knust
05-19 Berlin, Germany – Franzz
05-20 Cologne, Germany – Stadtgarden
05-21 Munich, Germany – 59
05-23 Zurich, Switzerland – Mascotte

Little Dragon – Stå Upp
_{removed at request of the artist — This was the unmixed/unmastered version of “Nightlight”, apparently & it leaked very early. Apparently it’s all sorted now. ( SOURCE )}

Chicago resident, Sleazetone Records label magnate, Year Of Mixtapes ninja and one of my favorite dance music producers on planet earth Chrissy Murderbot has a frame-bumping new EP out on Planet Mu meant to crash through your speakers get the blood flowing.

The remixes on Bussin’ Down EP waver between 130 and 160 bpm’s of pure juke fantasy. If this shit does not make you dance, have someone check for pulse and call 911 because obviously you are DEAD. Paired up with DJ Spinn for the title track, this video for “Bussin’ Down” is … perfect.

Keep your eyes wide open for Chrissy Murderbot’s full-length sweatbox joint, Womens Studies which will be out 9 May 2011. In the meantime, peep the title track “Bussin’ Down” and “The Vibe is So Right (Atki2 Remix)” featuring a guest riddim ride from MC ZULU.

[ Chrissy Murderbot at Planet Mu | Chrissy Murderbot Homepage ]